Bloomberg reported that thousands of Indonesian factory workers joined street protests across the country to demand higher wages and an end to the outsourcing of labor.

Mr Koswara chairman of the Karya Utama workers federation said that labor unions estimated as many as 3 million workers walked off the job nationwide. About 7,000 people rallied peacefully outside regional parliament offices in Jakarta and Bekasi and 45,000 more joined protests outside the capital.

Mr Rikwanto Jakarta police spokesman said that the 1 day strike underlines the challenges for international companies operating in Indonesia where Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc was forced to increase wages for workers at its Grasberg mine in December after a three month strike crippled production.

Mr Suryadi Sasmita executive chairman of the Indonesian Association of Garment and Accessories Suppliers said that Japanese companies have scrapped plans to invest as much as USD 313 million in the nation’s garment industry because of concern that labor protests may hamper production and spill over into violence.

Indonesia’s growth potential has spurred companies including Toyota Motor Corporation to boost investments in the country and prompted Standard Chartered Plc to predict the nation will join China and India as the engine of the third global super cycle. The country may surpass Germany and the UK by 2030 to be the world’s seventh largest economy.

Source - Bloomberg

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